Saturday, February 28, 2015

“When
most people think of Geiger counters, they either think of the black boxes that
are only used inside nuclear reactors or nuclear submarines to check for
excessive radiation, or bulky devices that are both expensive and difficult to
use. Radium tries to be different – after almost a year of research, our team
completed the development of a next-generation device that aims to be
affordable and extremely easy to use, without compromising the quality of the
provided measurements.”

Designed
by Amsterdam based Russian engineer Sergey Vladimirov, he kickstarted his
campaign on Wednesday February 18th 2015. As of the day of writing
of Friday February 27th 2015, his campaign has amassed some eighty
four (84) backers who have pledged some US$26,846.77 (€23,979).

With
a goal of US$111,959.52 (€100,000), this project might just succeed, if it
could pick up a little more pace. However, if and when it does succeed, expect
this product to ship in early May 2015 to late June 2015 for US$486 (€389).

What
makes his kickstarter so interesting is that the Radium
Geiger-Muller Counter is portable enough top fit into your pocket. This is
because the Radium has a pancake shaped Geiger-Muller Tube that enables it to
detect alpha, beta, gamma and X-rays.

With
a May 2015 shipping date, perhaps this is the kickstarter you may be looking to
support. When compared to the [price of those large, hefty Geiger-Muller
counters, US$436 does sound like a fair price for a state-of-the-art
Geiger-Muller Counter .

You
can also purchase a Developer Kit to build your own implementation of the Radium
Geiger-Muller Counter to be use in everything from Drones to portable
Radiation Detectors at checkpoints in a factory. This project will be of
interest to hobbyists and persons concerned about Radiation in their Food and I
for one love this project to bits

Friday, February 27, 2015

“Over
the last few months we’ve taken a close look at asm.js as a technology, related
technologies, and what they entail for the Web at large. While challenging to
write by hand, asm.js is leveraged principally by transpiling C/C++ code to run
on the Web platform, utilizing technologies such as WebGL and Web Audio. Asm.js
is a clear step towards enabling near-native performance for the Web platform,
which is why we’re excited to bring it to Chakra in an upcoming release”

Microsoft Chakra team
commenting on Wednesday February 18th 2015 announcement of the
asm.js JavaScript subset in their Chakra JavaScript Engine for Windows 10 as
well as Internet Explorer 10 Browser

Folks,
it appears that hell has frozen over with this recently announced deal
involving Microsoft and Mozilla Firefox.

Microsoft
plans to use the asm.js JavaScript subset in their Chakra JavaScript Engine that'll
be used on Windows 10 as well as the Internet Explorer 11 Browser. Developers
will love this, as the asm.js JavaScript subset makes Web Apps, particularly 3D
Games run much faster, almost as if installed on the Computer’s Operating
System.

Because
it’s a subset of JavaScript, it has all the benefits of the parent but with the
ability to run much faster than full JavaScript. Thus, with Microsoft’s support
in Windows 10 and Internet Explorer 11, expect to see more HD Video and Video
Games Web Apps being developed for Browsers that support the asm.js JavaScript
subset.

This
move appears to have been initiated by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and is a positive
move towards making Microsoft becoming more supportive of Web Standards for
rendering Websites, such as HTML5, much to the delight of bloggers such as
myself.

Now
that Windows 10 and Internet Explorer 11 will have asm.js JavaScript subset
support, Developers can use the Emscripten compiler to
compile C/C++ code into JavaScript. This makes it possible for programs written
in C/C++ code to run on any Browser that already supports JavaScript, allowing
them to focus on the work of coding instead of having to learn a new language
all over again.

This
means a lot of 3D Games written in C/C++ Code can be easily ported to JavaScript
and run very little lag or distortion, albeit the games will be about 1.5x
slower than the original games in C/C++ code. That's still better than running
the game in its original C/C++ code as a Web App, which would show quite a bit
of lag and stuttering.

Microsoft
support via its integration into the Chakra JavaScript Engine means that the
Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 will be supporting a Web Standard that Firefox,
Chrome and Safari already support, making Developers squeal with delight as
their Web apps will run the same on all Browsers.

Google
know this, hence the reason why their Project Turbofan is actively involved in
integrating asm.js JavaScript subset into the next build of Google Chrome 41,
with the expected boos in terms of faster web Apps, to quote the Turbofan team:
“We're already beta testing TurboFan in Chrome 41, which significantly improves
the performance of numeric code like asm.js. One could consider this issue 'mostly
fixed.' We are actively experimenting with the policy to activate TurboFan, and
one signal is the 'use asm' directive" that Web pages use to invoke asm.js”.

So
if you are a Developer of Web App Games in C/C++ Code or
even have an interest in developing IoT Applications, this latest freezing over of Hell thanks to this
unlikely and unexpected partnership with Mozilla Firefox will make developing Applications
for Microsoft 10, Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 and eventually Google Chrome as
easy as it is currently for the Mozilla Firefox Browser.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

“The
ban will be imposed both on the Android and Apple iOS platforms. We have not
yet heard from Viber whether it will bring the case to the higher court. The
lawsuit came as Viber evidently infringed our patent rights”

Spokespersons for SK
Telecom commenting on their Patent Case win against Viber with regards to
bypassing their Network

VoIP
and IM (Instant Messenger) App Viber is in big trouble in South Korea.

Basically,
this ruling simply means that Viber, which terminates calls made through its
app on Local and International landlines and mobile phone numbers, could
potentially be banned from operating in South Korea.

Good
to note that SK Telecom isn’t saying that the popularity of the VoIP App that
also does IM (Instant Messaging) is cutting into their Voice revenues. By going
after the obvious patent infringement, it makes it easier to mask their true
intentions as noted in the coy statements by SK Telecom in the article “South
Korean mobile operator wins patent suit against Viber”, published February
23, 2015 By Eileen Yu, ZDNet.

SK Mobile wins Patent
Case against Viber – Why 4G LTE and VoLTE will have to compete against VoIP
Apps

The
truth is, in BOTH cases, the Telecom Providers were losing revenue due to users
of the App being able to terminate calls without paying Toll, cross-connection
or Termination charges to complete calls on Local and International landlines
and mobile phone numbers.

By
going after a patent and not their obvious bypass, they're basically avoiding
looking anti-competitive in the eyes of the public while potentially setting up
a situation with this vague patent infringement where they can use the case as
a legal precedent to go after other VoIP Providers.

So
expect Kakao's KakaoTalk, with some 37 million users to be in their Crosshairs,
with Viber, being much smaller fish, as a mere test run to see if going after
this vague patent infringement can also be used against KakaoTalk.

After
all, their popularity might now spark persons withdrawing their services. But
they can complain to their relative Regulatory and Consumer Affairs advocates
with regards to a lack of Network Neutrality. That is to say, the Telecom
Providers are deciding what Traffic can be on their Network.

Such
protest aren’t vocal now, but will become so once VoLTE is introduced and it becomes
clear that the Telecom Providers are trying to re-ensnare customers in their
Metered Billing Services again,. Despite having paid for their Data to do with
as they believe they have a right to do.

A
case worthy watching......worlds away in the South Korean Telecom Market!

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

“More
than a billion people are bringing smartphones in their pockets to the
workplace”

Director of product
manager at Google, Rajen Sheth, commenting in a Press Release on the launch of Android
at Work

Google
is now taking aim at the Corporate and Enterprise World, where the money is
more lucrative and the lure of contracts will help monetize their projects.

Their
latest initiative, launched Wednesday February 25th 2015, is called Android at Work and aims to make Google
Android robust and acceptable enough on your smartphone as the trend of BYOD
(Bring your Own Device) continues to trend as noted in the article “With
'Android for Work,' Google hopes you'll use your phone on the job”,
published February 25, 2015 11:00 AM PST, by Richard Nieva, CNET News.

This
is gonna get interesting, as it suggests that Google Glass might be given to
Corporate and Enterprise workers along with Android at work, specifically if
they work in Technical fields such as Engineering or Medicine or even in the
Military, such as the US Army or Navy!

Android at Work – Labled
Apps means Work and Play on separate Homepages on the same smartphone

Android at Work
differs from Facebook's approach at making a Work-Centric version of their
Social Network called Facebook at Work.

Instead,
with Android at Work, being as it's
the OS that resides in your smartphone, you are given separate user profiles for
your worklife and the other for your personal life. But instead of having to
log in and out of profiles as you'd do in a Microsoft Windows environment, you instead
toggle between the two (2) accounts in real time to access your Google Docs, Calendar,
Forms and other Productivity Apps specifically tailored for Work

This
is done by making the Apps co-exist on your Google Android screen with labels to
identify which is which. So your work Apps are labeled with orange briefcase
badges with the title indicating that they are for work e.g. “Work Mail” or “Work
Chrome”.

I
suspect that most workers would then place their work Apps on one Homepage and
their play app on another Homepage, thereby allowing their work and play Apps
to live side by side. No need to lug around that ugly company Blackberry; now
both your work and play life can live on the same smartphone.

Android at Work – How Google’s
BYOD for Google Android 5.0 Lollipop will be a hit in the Corporate and
Enterprise World

They've
even revamped the Google Play Store, making it an enterprise-ready version that
allows IT staff to make their own Apps and deploy and manage their Apps. These Apps
are being developed in collaboration with companies such as SAP, Citrix,
Samsung, Sony, Box and Adobe, so they’ll be ready-to-work straight out of the
Enterprise version of the Google Play Store….or is that the Google Work Store.

Google
is also teaming up with Blackberry, whose BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server) is
currently the Corporate and Enterprise Security Gold standard when it comes to VPN
(Virtual Private Network) Security while working in the Cloud as noted in the
article “Google's
Android for Work Wants to Handle Your Business Data”, published FEBRUARY
25, 2015 03:40PM EST BY CHLOE ALBANESIUS, PC
Magazine.

In
fact, Google, Samsung and Blackberry are all bating on the same team it seems
with the Corporate and Enterprise contracts being their main prize as noted in
the article “BlackBerry
Launches BES12, Samsung Knox Support”, published NOVEMBER 13, 2014 01:30PM
EST BY DAMON POETER, PC Magazine.

Sending
them individually via email in Gmail,
especially to more than one hundred (100) people, is a painful chore. To make
it worse, Google has restriction on how many emails you can send in bulk per
day, roughly one thousand (1000) in BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) with a maximum of five
hundred (500) email addresses per email. Sending that many emails individually
will be very difficult for you in Gmail!

Yes
folks, this is yet another How-to or DIY (Do it yourself) article with lots of
pictures, so grab a pack of National Bakery Cream Crackers with Eve Guava Jelly
and sip on some of that Blue Mountain Peak Instant Coffee!

How to use Gmail to do Email
Marketing - How to do Mail Merge using Google Sheets and Gmail

Before
you start, it's good to note that you'll be restricted to one hundred (100) emails
per script. Still, if you have multiple Gmail
accounts, you can maximize on this advantage and thereby achieve your email
Marketing Strategy.

To
utilize a free mail merge script for Gmail,
the instructions are pretty straightforward, really! First, log into your Google Drive Account. Then click New then Google Sheets on the Left sidebar to create a spreadsheet.

Give
it a descriptive name as this spreadsheet will host the emails addresses that
are a part of your email marketing campaign. Go to the menu bar and select Add-ons then Get add-ons to go to the Google’s add-on store.

Type
in “mail merge” script in the Search
bar and press Enter to begin Search
for Mail Merge scripts.

Select
the “Free” button on the Yet Another
Mail Merge Script to get the free version.

A
pop-up window requesting various permissions to access Google Sheets, Contacts
and Gmail for the Public Mail Merge script built into Google Drive will open. Scroll down and
press the button Allow to give the
script access; fret not, it’s perfectly safe!

Click
Accept and a pop-up will appear
under Add-ons on the menu bar after
the script has been installed.

Click
Add-ons then select Yet Another Mail Merge and then Import
contacts from a group in your Gmail Account.

You'll
see a window listing all the contact groups in your Gmail Account. Note here that you do
have the option to go into Gmail and
create a new group with the contacts needed in your mail merge.

Click
Import contacts to populate your spreadsheet with these emails. This'll take
awhile and now would be a good time to eat some National Bakery Cream Crackers
with Eve Guava Jelly and sip on some of that Blue Mountain Peak Instant Coffee!

Then
you need to draft the mail letter in your Gmail
Account to Mail Merge. Log into your Gmail Account and click Compose creating a
regular email with title. Once you've composed your email, anywhere within the
email that you desire to have data from the columns in the spreadsheet to appear
type the script “$%headername%”.

For
example, if in your spreadsheet, you have a column that has the name “Firstname” and you want the first name
data to appear at a certain point within your letter, type the script “$%Firstname%” so as to merge that data
from the spreadsheet to that point in your email.

After
completing that, then go back to the Google
Sheets Spreadsheet click on Add-ons
and select Yet Another Mail Merge
and then Start mail merge. Select your email from the Drafts drop-down menu.

Note:
An interesting feature that will be of interest to email marketer’s is the
option to Track the users to see if they opened your emails. You can enable
this by checking the Track Emails Opened
box.

A
test email will generate an EMAIL_SENT
data tuple in the column beside each contact. If you plan to resent multiple
mail merges on the same spreadsheet, remember to clear the EMAIL_SENT data tuple in the column beside each contact.

Oh,
and enjoy your National Bakery Cream Crackers with Eve Guava Jelly and sip on
some of that Blue Mountain Peak Instant Coffee!

More
interestingly, Google Glass’s Manager will be reporting to Tony Fadel, the
magician behind the Apple iPod and then his own company Nest that makes the
self-learning Thermostat of the same name and the Nest Protect, the equally
annoying Internet connected Fire Alarm as stated in the article “Google
Glass gets a new boss, the man behind the iPod and Nest”, published January
15, 2015 10:21 AM PST by Richard Nieva, CNET
News.

And
according to Tony Fadell, this time there will be no public testing of Google
Glass, exposing the company to ridicule or Explorers to harassment about
invasion of Privacy, even though smartphones have cameras with video
capability.

Apparently
most people forgot that the US$1,500 price tag was aimed at persons who
wanted to be on the bleeding Edge of Tech and it really was for the Public to
try out, not necessarily as a finished product.

Google Glass for
Consumers will Return - More Apps, Cheaper price to compete with Microsoft
HoloLens

All
of this movement within Google fits with the idea that they’re getting a huge
demand for orders of Google Glass from Enterprise customers. Google had to take
their focus away from their Explorer Program to focus on making Glass for these
clients, who apparently want a lot of them in very lucrative long term deals.

When
this will be is a bit of an unknown, but they’ll definitely have to return
soon, as the competition is heating up now that the Microsoft HoloLens seem to
be making all the right moves towards VR (Virtual Reality) as noted in the
article “Microsoft
HoloLens Gets Face Wearables Right”, published 1/28/2015 by Patrick
Moorhead, Forbes.

And
yes, it will replace the smartphone as I’d predicted in my blog article
entitled

On
receiving the feature, these selected persons, basically beta testers, can call
a select number of friends within WhatsApp
for free. If you receive a call from someone who has WhatsApp Calling feature activated, you're
prompted to update your WhatsApp to the
latest version, which happens to be WhatsApp build (2.11.508).

Interestingly,
though, those WhatsApp-only call to
other users via 3G or 4G are free and even then, only a limited number of WhatsApp users that have updated the
latest version of WhatsApp.

For
the rest of us unlucky souls, WhatsApp Calling
is a feature inside of the latest build of WhatsApp.
It's just disabled as WhatsApp hasn't
announced widespread availability of this feature as yet on their WhatsApp blog

Using
a sideloaded version of WhatsApp build
(2.11.508) on a Nexus 5 running Google Android 5.0 Lollipop, he was able to accidentally
evoke the Voice Calling Functionality, even taking a few screenshots.

He
also posted a video as proof that he’d encountered WhatsApp Calling in the
Wild!

Other
Reddit users, also based in India, have duplicated his efforts and have stumbled
across Screens that show a new tab for Calls next to the tabs for Chats and
Contacts as shown in the picture below.

WhatsApp Testing Voice
Calling – Basic Features that need tweaking

This
appeared to be an initial test by WhatsApp
that's evoked by sideloading the latest build of WhatsApp onto a smartphone running Google Android
5.0 Lollipop. Possibly the functionality is already built into the latest
update of WhatsApp, but only activated
if you have a Google Android 5.0 Lollipop smartphone?

Pradnesh
Patil claims the feature gets switched on when a user that has it tries to call
another user.

However,
the WhatsApp calling feature is
apparently being rolled on a Test Basis, with a select few possibly receiving
invitations to become Beta-testers for WhatsApp
since.

So
far, individuals have reported trying to use WhatsApp
Calling only for calls to go unanswered as it may not be enable for everyone,
even if they have the latest version of WhatsApp.
It also appears that you can only call other WhatsApp
users and not Local or International Landlines
or Mobile numbers.

WhatsApp Calling
unlikely over 4G LTE – Digicel and LIME now have the right to block
unregistered VoIP

That
would be interesting, as it’s unlikely that Telecom Provider in the US of A and
anywhere in the world would allow WhatsApp
to do that for Free.

Most
likely, American Telecom Providers and the FCC (Federal Communications
Commission) would have to force WhatsApp
and all other VoIP IM (Instant Messaging) apps with VoIP capability to register
as Telecom Providers.

This
is once they reach a certain critical mass and account for a significant amount
of traffic on their 4G LTE Network as was the case in Jamaica recently with Digicel
and LIME.

And
as my article suggests, this would mean that any such WhatsApp Calling Feature, be it from WhatsApp to WhatsApp or WhatsApp to Local or International
Landlines or Mobile numbers, would only be possible if WhatsApp is a registered Telecom Provider
in Jamaica!

WhatsApp Voice Calling with Video Calling
capability over 3G and 4G LTE Networks with the capability to call Local or International
Landlines or Mobile numbers, albeit facing initial resistance, will eventually
be accepted. This as the FCC will not stand-by and watch Telecom Provider
create another monopoly, this time based on 4G LTE Networks!